As part of an ongoing initiative to support the wellbeing of their players, Riot Games has announced a new partnership with Crisis Text Line; a free and confidential service which provides a range of mental health support services. The partnership comes following a survey last year among US League of Legends players. In that survey, gamers chose “good health and mental wellbeing” as their most important social value.
Riot Games’ Partnership with Crisis Text Line
“We’re excited to partner with Crisis Text Line to provide players real, accessible resources when they or someone they know may be in times of crisis;” says Jeffrey Burrell, the Director of Karma (Social Impact) and Executive Producer of Riot Games’ Social Impact Fund; “Suicide is a leading cause of death for people under 35 around the world and we hope that this partnership can reach more people during their times of need.”
After the 2019 survey, Riot Games has been working on ways to help support the mental wellbeing of their players. These have included partnerships with Active Minds and Headspace, for example. According to Riot, their Player Support Team is often contacted by players dealing with mental health concerns. However, that team doesn’t always have the training or resources necessary to provide the mental health support which players need. Crisis Text Line, on the other hand, is a free, confidential, text hotline which connects users with trained Crisis Counselors; a service which can much better provide that sort of support.
Crisis Text Line is available 24/7 and offers support on a wide selection of mental health concerns. These range from grief and depression to suicidal thoughts and physical abuse. For more details, check out the service’s official website. As a result of the new partnership, anybody can now text ‘RIOT’ to 741741. That will allow you to connect directly with a Crisis Counselor. “We are thrilled Riot Games is making this commitment to providing their players, and gamers as a while, better access to resources during times of crisis;” says Bob Filbin, Crisis Text Line co-founder and Chief Data Scientist; “As more people play video games now than ever, we want to make sure this vast audience has resources available to them in a text-based approach that aligns with their communication preferences.”